Railway-switch.



J. F. OBER.

RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION nun AUG. 2, 1909.

942,458. Patented Dec. 7, 1909.

Ir l

PATENT OFFTQE.

JOHN F. OBER, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

RAILWAY-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 190:9.

Application filed August 2, 1909. Serial No. 510,704.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN F. OBER, citizen of the United States, residingat New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Railway-Switches, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention pertains to railway switch mechanism and more particularlyto switch mechanism for use in street railways; and it has for itsobject to provide simple, durable and reliable means connected with andadapted to transmit motion to a movable switch rail and also adapted tobeactuated or put in motion by a car device at a point considerablyremoved from the switch rail, and this while the car carrying the saiddevice is in motion.

WVith the foregoing in view the invention will be fully understood fromthe following description and claim, when the same are read inconnection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of thisspecification, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view illustrating my improvements as properlyarranged relative to a street railway and a movable switch railcomprised therein; some of the parts of my improvements being shown bydotted lines. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section taken throughthe casing of my improvements in a plane at one side of the horizontallyswinging and coupled levers.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the casing and the working parts therein,as the same appear when the lid of the casing is removed. Fig. 4 is avertical cross-section showing the casing and the lid properly arrangedrelative thereto.

Similar letters designate corresponding parts in all of the views of thedrawings, referring to which:

A is a movable switch rail comprised in a street railway, and B is thecasing for inclosing the major portion of the working parts comprised inmy novel motion-transmitting means. The said casing B is preferably ofthe shape shown in Fig. 3 in outline, and of the shape shown in Fig. 4:in cross-section, and is arranged in the roadbed of the railway andbetween the rails thereof in such manner that its uppermost portion isflush with the roadbed. The casing is normally closed by a lid 0arranged in and on the casing and flush with the uppermost portionsthereof, and the said lid is provided j ata. with a vertically disposedslot which describes a part of a circle for a purpose hereinafter setforth.

Suitably fixed on the bottom of the casing, B and arranged at suitabledistances apart are cross-bars D and E, and fulcrumed at intermediatepoints of their length on the cross-bars D are horizontally swinginglevers F, the contiguous ends of which are suitably coupled together, asindicated by G, so that when one lever is moved in a horizontal planethe other lever will be synchronously moved in a horizontal plane.Connected to the rear end of the lever F remote from the switch rail Ais the depending portion Z) of a shoe H, which depending portion isdisposed and movable in the before-mentioned slot at of the lid G. Theshoe H is pivoted at c on the lid G, and is adapted to be oscillated ormoved in one direction or the other horizontally on the said lid bymeans hereinafter referred to. The lever F adjacent the switch rail A isconnected at its forward end in a hinged manner to an endwise movablebar I which rests and is movable on the cross-bars E and extends throughthe wall of the casing to a point outside the same where it merges intoan upwardly extending portion that is suitably connected to the rail A,as shown. Thus it will be manifest that when the levers F are movedhorizontally by power applied to the rear end of the rear lever F, theswitch rail A will also be moved, the direction of movement of theswitch rail depending on the direction in which the rear end of the rearlever F is moved. The levers F may each be ten or more feet in length,and from this it follows that the shoe H through the medium of whichmotion is transmitted to the rear lever, may be located at aconsiderable distance from the switch rail A.

Any suitable car device may be employed for engaging and moving the shoeH incidental to the progress of the car carrying the said device towardthe switch rail A. I prefer, however, to employ the car deviceconstituting the subject matter of my Letters-Patent No. 536,229, ofMarch 26, 1895, which car device is adapted to be positioned so as toengage either side of the shoe H according to the direction in which itis desired to move the switch rail A.

The advantage following the location of the shoe H at a considerabledistance from the switch rail A will be appreciated when it is borne inmind that cars approaching the switch rail will be frequently moved at ahigh rate of speed, and the adjustment of the switch rail to theposition desired must be assured before the forward wheels of the carreach the point of the said switch rail.

In order to prevent damage of the shoe H by vehicles passing over thecantrack, I arrange the said shoe in a countersink M in the casing lid Cand flush with the upper side of said lid, Figs. 1, 2 and 4, and I alsoprovide in the lid and in communication with said countersink parallelways or grooves N, having beveled ends, as shown by dotted lines in'Fig. 2, and designed to lead or guide a car device downwardly and thenlongitudinally to the countersink M and to a pointat one side or theother of the shoe H.

It will be gathered fromthe foregoing that in addition to the points ofadvantage herein ascribed to my novel motion-transmitting means, thesame is advantageous because of the facility with which it may beinstalled in existing as well as new railways.

The construction herein illustrated and described constitutes the bestpractical embodiment of my invention that I have as yet devised, but itis obvious that in the future practice of the invention such changes ormodifications may be made as do not involve departure from the scope ofmy invention as defined in my appended claim.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is:

I11 means for the purpose described, the combination of a railwaycomprising a movable switch rail, a casing embedded in the roadbed ofthe railway and between the rails thereof and having raised bars on itsbottom, separated by intervening spaces, a lid countersunk in the casingand having a countersink in its upper side and a curvilinear slot in thebottom wall of said countersink and alsohaving in its upper sidelongitudinal and parallel grooves that extend from the said countersinkand are upwardly beveled at their outer ends, a horizontally-swingingshoe pivoted in the said countersink and having a depending pin movablein said slot, levers movable one by the other and fulcrumed on certainof the bars on the bottom of the casing and movable horizontally onother of said bars; one of said levers being connected with and movableby the said pin, and a connection intermediate the other lever and thesaid movable switch rail.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

JNO. J. WVARD, ANDREW OVECON.

